Railway-car.



Z SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTBD JULY 25, 1905.

J. H. BRUCE.

RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED ma. 4, 1904.

PATENTED JULY 25, 1905.

J. H. BRUCE.

RAILWAY GAR.

APPLICATION FILED MARA, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Nm v

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOSEPH H. BRUCE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE COMBINED LIQUID TANK & FREIGHT CAR COMPANY, OF HURON, SOUTH DAKOTA, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

RAILWAY-CAR.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

'atented July 25, 1905.

Application led March 4, 1904:. Serial No. 196,527.

To @ZZ whom t may con/067%:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH H. BRUCE, a citi- Zen of the United States of America, and a v acter of a simple and inexpensive nature and of a compact, strong, and durable structure having improved means for promoting a circulation of air within its interior, whereby the refrigeration of its contents is quickly and uniformly effected with a minimum consumption of refrigerant.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved refrigerator-car whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claim.

In the accompanying' drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing` a refrigerator-car embodying my improvements, and Eig. 2 is a partial section taken vertically and lengthwise along one side of the improved car at the end thereof. Fig. 3 is a central section drawn upon an enlarged scale and taken through one of of the dampers. Fig. 4 is a face view of said damper.

As shown in the views, l indicates the cartrucks, and 2 the platform supported thereon, while 3 indicates the car-body, which will be constructed in the ordinary way, with doors I centrally located at opposite sides.

In the platform 2 is embedded a metallic tank extended lengthwise of the platform, with a central part 5 extended down in the space between the car-trucks and beneath the platform 2, the end portions 5a 51 of the tank being made shallow and having inclined bottoms, the lower parts of which are adapted to deliver liquid flowing' over them into the Central depressed part 5 of the tank.

The tank, as shown in Eig. 2, has double walls and is adapted to receive a charge of ice or other suitable refrigerant for cooling the perishable freight contained in the car-body, and the top of the tank is iush with the ioor of the platform and is closed and covered over by a top or cover formed of perforated metallicy sections l2 12 end to end, with abutting ends supported on transverse braces 13, extended across the top part of the tank.

In practice I preferably employ two of the ice-tanks constructed and arranged in this way, one tank beingl extended along each'side of the car platform 2 and adapted to be charged through its top on removal of its sectional cover, and in connection with this structure I employ a system of conduits or passages extended from the tanks toward opposite ends of the car, which conduits or passages have connection at the central part of each end of the car with means for promoting a flow or circulation of air through them, so that when the car is in motion air will be caused to circulate through its interior in such a way as to promote a quick and uniform refrigeration of the contents of the car. Since the tanks at opposite sides of the car are precisely alike and their connections with the conduits or passages and with the circulation-promoting means at the ends of the car are similar, a description of one of said tanks, with its connections, will suflce for both tanks.

At each end of the improved refrigeratorycar is located the improved circulation-promoting means 6, which is formed of a damper or air-valve having a circular casing let of a size to fit snugly in the space commonly provided between the inner and outer sheathings 15 l5 at the end of the car. The damper or valve is so constructed as to be adapted for admission or discharge of air to and from the interior of the car, and from the casing 14 is extended a pipe 7, leading down to the end of the shallow end portion 5ai of the ice-receiving tank, with the upper portion of which communication is thereby established through the open lower end 8 of said pipe 7. 9 indicates another pipe extended from the casing 14 of the damper or air-valve and embedded in the side wall of the car-body 3 within the space between the inner and outer sheathings thereof, said pipe 9 being extended lengthwise of said side wall of the car-body and being passed through suitable openings in the upright posts or standards 9u of said side wall from the end of the car whereat the damper is located to the side of the adjacent doorpost 1, at which point said pipe is bent downward, as seen at 10, and is carried downward into the deeper central portion 5 of the icetank and has its open end 11 adjacent to the bottom thereof for communication with 4the interior of the tank. Each damper or airvalve is connected by a similar system of pipes 7 and 9 with the tank, and in practice when the car is moving in one direction the damper 0r valve at that end of the car will be closed to prevent admission of air to the interior of the car, while the damper or valve at the opposite end of the car will be opened to permit the air to circulate to and from the interior of the car, at the rear end thereof, in such a way that the admission of cinders and dust is prevented as much as possible.

The circular casing 14 of each damper or air-valve has an enlarged front plate 16, adapted to extend over the outer surface of the end wall of the car, and in said front plate 16 are produced segmental openings 17, grouped and adapted to correspond with similarly-formed ports or openings 18 in a rotary Valve 19, formed of a fiat metal disk, centrally held for turning movement on a pin or stud 21 and having edge portions 20 engaging and turning in a circular groove or channel extended around the interior of the periphery of the face-plate 16 of the casing.

The pin or stud 21 will be secured to move with valve or disk 19 in a central opening in face-plate 16, and on the outer end of said pin or stud 21 is held a spring-arm 22, adapted for iiexure toward and from the face-plate and carrying at its outer end a pin or tooth 23, adapted for engagement in one or the other of two apertures or locking-openings 24, formed in the face-plate at suitable intervals, the elasticity of the arm 22 being sufficient to hold the pin 23 in the opening 24, with which it is designedly engaged, so as to prevent accidental displacement of the valve.

In connection with the devices above described 1 also employ at each end of the ear and adjacent to the top thereof an auxiliary valve or damper 6", in all ways similar to the valve or damper above referred to, except that it is designed to admit air to and discharge it from the upper part of the car-bod y directly through an opening in the sheathing of the body with which the casing of the valve or damper is adapted for communication. The auxiliary valves or dampers are adapted for operation entirely independent of the dampers or valves 6 6 and of each other.

In operation when the tanks beneath the platform have been filled with ice and the cardoors have been closed and the car is in 1no tion in one direction the spring-arm 22 of each damper 6 and 6L at the forward end of the ear will be seized by the hand and drawn away from the corresponding face-plate, so as to disengage its tooth 23 from one opening' in said face-plate in order that said arm may be moved to engage its tooth in another opening. in this way the arms are adjusted so that the forward upper damper 6 is closed to prevent entry of air through it into the body of the car, and the forward lower damper 6 stands in opened position, so that air is admitted through said lower damper 6 and is drawn in by reason of the momentum of the car and forced through the air pipes or conduits 7 and 9 into the ice-tank beneath the car-platform. The spring-arms 22 of the dampers 6 and 6u at the rear end of the moving car are then operated in such a way as to adjust the said rear dampers 6 and 6a so that they stand in positions exactly reversed with relation to the corresponding forward dampers, the rear upper damper 6iL being adjusted to stand in opened position to permit the escape of air from the interior of the car and the lower rear damper 6 being adjusted to stand in closed position, so as to prevent the escape of air through it from the pipes or conduits 7 and 9, with which it is connected. When the parts are adjusted in this position, it will be seen that air is admitted through the lower damper 6 at the forward end of the car and is forced through pipes or conduits 7 and 9 down into the ice-tank, wherein it is cooled by contact with the ice in said tank and after being cooled is discharged upward through the openings in the perforated top or cover 12 of the tank. At the same time that this circulation through the ice-tank into the bottom of the car-body is being effected air is being withdrawn by the draft created through the upper rear damper 6, said withdrawn air being abstracted from the upper part of the car-body, in which of course the warmer air is present, and this withdrawal of air from the upper part of the car serves to materially enhance the iiow of air through the ice-tank into the lower part of the car-body until finally the whole car is filled with cold air, after which the forward lower damper 6 and the rear up 'per damper 6u are both adjusted to closed position until such time as the interior of the car either through being opened by means of the car-doors 4i or through other causes shall become again so iilled with warm air as to require the cooling process to be repeated. In this way it will be seen that a constant and effective circulation of air through the interior of the car may be maintained for so long a time as may be desired in order that the contained air may be brought in contact with the refrigerant in the icetank and uniformly cooled for the best preservation of the perishable freightin the car, and when this has been accomplished the dampers may be operated to stop such circulation. The structure is also such that the entry of dust and cinders into the car is prevented as far as possible, and the device is adapted for use when the car is moving in either direction.

The form of damper herein shown is also such that there is little liability of the valve being accidentally displaced when once set, since the tooth 23 on spring-arm 22 will effectively hold the valve 19 in position when adjusted.

From the above description of my invention it will be seen that the device constructed in accordance therewith is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is especially well adapted for use upon refrigeratorcars, being especially desirable in promoting an initial circulation in the cars, such as is desirable for quickly and uniformly cooling the contents thereof when first loaded, and it will also be obvious from the above description that the device is capable of considerable modiiication without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device as herein set forth in carrying` out my invention in practice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A refrigerator-car having' a platform in which is embedded a tank adapted to receive a charge of ice and having shallow end portions embedded at the ends of the platform and a central deeper portion extended beneath the platform, a car-bod y above the platform with the lower part of its interior adapted for communication with the ice-tank to receive cooled air therefrom and having a door at its side and door-posts extended above the deeper central portion of the tank, dampers at opposite ends of the upper part of the carbody and adapted to be adjusted into opened or closed position to permit or prevent withdrawal of airfrom the upper part of the carbody, other dampers at opposite ends of the car-body and adapted to loe adjusted into opened or closed position, conduits vertically extended in the ends of the car-body and leading from said last-named dampers to the shallow end portions of the tank and other conduits extended at the ends of the car-bodyand horizontally along the side walls thereof to said door-posts and vertically extended alongside the door-posts into the deeper central portions of the tank with their lower ends adjacent to the bottom of said deeper central portion of the tank and their opposite ends connected with said last-named dampers.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 13th day of February, 1904.

JOSEPH H. BRUCE.

Witnesses:

J. D. CAPLINGER, C. S. KELLEY. 

